The Vanderbilt University Debate Team competes at national and regional levels. A full program of intercollegiate debate is available for students who choose to participate in forensics.
Program of Concentration in Communication Studies
Communication studies explores purposive human communication. The Department of Communication Studies is particularly devoted to an understanding of public discourse in the broadest sense, with an emphasis on the role of persuasion in civil society. To that end the subjects of study range from political discourse to commercial advertisement, from the history of rhetoric to the impact of mass media, from criticism of American public oratory to issues of freedom of speech. The department offers courses involving practice, criticism, and theoretical analysis.
Education in these areas has traditionally produced citizen advocates who enter public life in business, law, journalism, and communication.
A major in communication studies requires 30 credit hours of course work. The requirements and options for the major are as follows:
- Two courses (6 credit hours) in Foundations: 1002 and 1500.
- One course (3 credit hours) in Argumentation and Advocacy: 2100, 2110, 2120.
- Three courses (9 credit hours) in Public Discourse and Deliberation: 3000, 3001, 3002, 3110, 3120, 3140, 3200, 3600, 3700, 3750; one of which must be 3000, 3001, or 3002.
- Three courses (9 credit hours) in Culture, Theory, and Critique: 2800, 2950, 3100, 3150, 3620, 3620W, 3710, 3720, 3730, 3730W, 3740, 3760, 3800.
- One elective course (3 credit hours), selected from the courses listed in requirements 2 through 4, which has not been counted toward those requirements.
1111, 3840, 3850, 3890, 4960, and 4961 may be counted toward the major in the category corresponding to the topic of the course, with the permission of the director of undergraduate studies.
Minor in Communication Studies
A minor in communication studies requires completion of 18 credit hours from the following requirements and options:
- Two courses (6 credit hours) in Foundations: 1002 and 1500.
- One course (3 credit hours) in Argumentation and Advocacy: 2100, 2110, 2120.
- Three courses (9 credit hours) from requirements 3 and 4 in the major; one of which must be 3000, 3001, or 3002.